Kurt Cobain Essays - Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Eldon Hoke

Kurt Cobain On April 9th the world woke up to the news of Kurt Cobain's suicide. Those who followed the grundge music of Cobain's band, Nirvana, were angry, but not surprised. With songs such as "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" and constant references to suicide and drugs, suicide was the obvious explanation for his death. Kurt put it best when he said, "I'm thought of as this pissy, complaining, freaked-out schizophrenic who wants to kill himself all the time." (Bozza) To many people, Cobain just joined the club of rock stars who self-destructed. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones set the precedent. The Seattle Police Department confirmed the conclusion everyone had already made; Kurt Cobain committed suicide. Sympathy was hard to find. After his death, Kurt was called a "worthless shred of human debris" by Rush Limbaugh. (Amirault). Even Cobain's fans were not sympathetic to the pain Kurt suffered at all. They were mad. At his vigil, the crowd chanted "a**hole" because they thought of Kurt as a coward. (Jones) Cobain already had undergone a near-death experience in Rome earlier in the year that may or may not have been a suicide attempt in which Cobain digested nearly fifty pills called Rohypnol. He also locked himself in a room with a .38 caliber pistol and said he was going to kill himself after a dispute. Kurt Cobain was also notorious for hating his fame. He was once quoted as saying, "I'd rather be dead than cool." (Jones) Kurt Cobain also had stomach pains that sometimes caused him to vomit air because he could not even hold down water. Cobain's marriage and band were both on the brink of breaking up. The pieces of the puzzle seem to fit together perfectly. The suicide note, the pain, the history of Kurt Cobain, and the attitude everyone perceived Kurt possessed pointed to suicide. Neither Kurt Cobain's character nor what he did previous to this incident is in question. It is true that Cobain was a heroin addict and times could be a malicious person. The question is whether Kurt Cobain committed suicide or not. It is extraordinarily simple to overlook the facts in this case and dismiss it as another rocker who couldn't handle the spotlight, but as new evidence demonstrates Kurt Cobain not only didn't commit suicide, but was not even able to. In fact, his own wife, Courtney Love had him killed in order to capitalize on the spotlight Kurt Cobain's death caused. To the public, Kurt Cobain appeared suicidal. To those who knew him, he didn't. Kurt Cobain's best friend said that Kurt was "not at all" suicidal. (Amirault) Another one of his friends, Mark Lanegan said, "I never knew Kurt to be suicidal." (Amirault) Cobain's former attorney, Rosemary Caroll, who believes Courtney Love had Kurt Cobain killed, does not believe Cobain was suicidal. Even those who would know best if Cobain was suicidal or not, the expert therapists at Exodus Treatment Center where Kurt sojourned shortly before his death, did not consider him to be suicidal. The depressed attitude of someone who commits suicide did not fit the interview Kurt gave to Rolling Stone on January 27 of that same year. Cobain said "I still see stuff, descriptions of rock stars in some magazine- 'Sting, the environmental guy' and 'Kurt Cobain, the whiny, complaining, neurotic, bitchy guy who hates everything, hates rock stardom, hates his life.' And I've never been happier in my life." As for the song, "I Hate Myself and I Want to Die" Cobain said, "Nothing more than a joke. It was totally satirical, making fun of ourselves." The article also showed a side to Kurt Cobain that not many people got to see or knew about. He tells a story in the article about going to a nightclub and meeting some people there. He invited them back to his hotel and gave them a place to stay and ordered them any food they wanted. Cobain also knew the end of Nirvana was inevitable and he was not worried about it. Courtney Love, on the other hand, was worried. Courtney Love had a lot to gain if Kurt Cobain died. She also had a lot to lose if he was still alive. Shortly before his death, Cobain asked Rosemary Caroll to start the divorce papers. Cobain's estate was worth about $30 million. Love had proved her obsession with money before when she yelled at Cobain publicly for not headlining the Lollapalooza tour for $9.5 million. With the prenuptial agreement Love